News Scan

Ohio Court Upholds Death Sentence: An Ohio murderer lost a bid to overturn his death sentence Tuesday. The Associated Press reports that a divided Ohio Supreme Court rejected Jeffrey Wogenstahl's claim that that the state lacked jurisdiction to prosecute him because the body of 10-year-old girl he murdered was found in Indiana. Wogenstahl was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1991 kidnap and murder of Amber Garrett. Facts found by the jury indicate that he abducted the girl from her bedroom at roughly 3:15 AM in Harrison, a town on the Ohio-Indiana border. The girl's body was found about 4 miles across the border in ditch five days later. Amber had been stabbed 11 times in the chest and neck, and her head had blunt force trauma consistent being hit with a jack handle. While there was evidence to suggest that she was not killed where her body was found, and that she might have died in Wogenstahl's apartment, it was not conclusive. The question of jurisdiction was not directly raised at trial. The Court held that, considering the evidence in this case, state law allowed the presumption that the murder occurred in Ohio.

Murderer's Challenge to Execution Drug Rejected: A Florida judge has denied a double-murderer's claim that the anesthesia used in the state's execution protocol may allow him to feel pain. Julia Jenae of WTLV reports that white supremacist Mark Asay, sentenced to death for gunning down two black men in 1998, brought in an out-of-state expert to support his claim that the drug etomidate does not keep a person unconscious long enough, and can cause pain during injection. A state expert disputed the claim, noting that the drug works in 10-15 seconds and lasts long enough to allow a painless execution. In rejecting Asay's claim the judge noted that he only "demonstrated the possibility of mild to moderate pain that would last, at most tens of seconds." Asay has until July 31 to appeal the judge's decision to the Florida Supreme Court. His execution is scheduled for August 24. No word on whether the ACLU and the NAACP will file argument on his behalf.